A former corrections officer was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for smuggling methamphetamine and other contraband into Hays State Prison in Trion, authorities said.

Mark Edward Jeffery, 34, of Fairmount, pleaded guilty to a count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said in a news release.

In February 2018, a fellow corrections officers saw a large rectangular object wrapped in black electrical tape that was hidden inside Jeffery’s drink container, the release said. A supervisor was notified about possible contraband.

Later that day, the prison’s chief of security searched Jeffery and his belongings, finding a plastic bag containing meth, two bags with 190 pills inside, four smartphones, four cellphone chargers, a water bottle filled with alcohol and a brown glass smoking utensil, the release said.

He was arrested and taken to the Chattooga County jail, records show. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 11 this year.

After his time in prison, he’ll serve three years of supervised release.

The GBI and Georgia Department of Corrections investigated the case.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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